Klarinet Archive - Posting 000039.txt from 1996/06

From: David Hughes <dhughes@-----.COM>
Subj:
Date: Mon, 3 Jun 1996 07:05:51 -0400

Wander Azevedo muses:

>Since a long time ago, I've got a question twisting in my head:
>at the same maintenance conditions which sounds better: an old or a new
>clarinet? (The old violins sound better...)
>
>And... what is the "lifetime" of a Buffet?

My repairman and guru Tony Valenti assures me that "Older is not, repeat
not, better."

Maybe so, but in the hands of an artist like Tony, I've been very happy.

I'm playing two Buffets from the mid-sixties, and they're like old cars.
They're great (maybe better than new horns in some ways, maybe worse), but
they require occasional attention from a skilled mechanic. The old ones
require different maintenance (rebuilding toneholes, replacing key bridge).
I am currently trying GoreTex pads, which I really like.

You'll never get my horns away from me!!

BTW, I paid $250 for my Bb at Manny's in New York in 1966. I paid about
$300 for the A, which I bought used, indirectly out a pawn shop in
Mississippi in 1975.